1. OVERTAKE BUTTON: Changes the fuel map to 100 percent rich for a set amount of time, allowing the engine to produce the extra power needed to complete a pass or hold off another driver.

2. PI DASH: Displays warning lights and information the driver needs during the race. That information includes lap times, oil, water and gearbox temperatures and fuel mileage.

3. RPM SHIFT LIGHTS: LED lights that go from green to red and indicate engine RPM. When the red lights are on the driver shifts gears.

4. PIT LANE SPEED LIMITER: Used on pit lane by the driver to activate the engine control program limiting the car’s speed to the pit lane speed limit, which is usually 60 miles per hour.

5. PULL-TO-TALK (BEHIND THE CARBON): Activates the microphone in the driver’s helmet so he can communicate over the radio.

6. RESET: Used during the race. During a pit stop the driver pushes this button to reset the fuel reading on his display.

7. FUEL MAP SWITCH: Allows the driver to adjust the fuel mapping of the engine to increase fuel mileage or to increase power. There are a number of settings available including full rich, where the engine produces maximum power but uses more fuel. There is also a lean setting which uses less fuel but produces less power. During caution periods the drivers will switch to the leanest mixture to increase fuel economy.

8. DASH SCROLL: Allows the driver to scroll through the different pages available on the dash board, including the race page, qualifying page and practice page.

9. WEIGHT JACKER: Adjusts the cross weight on the car from left to right. The weight jacker allows the driver to make fine-tuning adjustments as the car begins to handle differently during the race.

10. DRINK (BEHIND THE CARBON): Allows the driver to get a drink of water during the race. It activates a pump connected to a water bottle on the car which pumps water through a hose installed in the driver’s helmet.

Publicado por: ` el Mar 20 2008, 11:16 PM

SEBRING, Fla. -- Oriol Servia paced the final day of testing at Sebring International Raceway for teams and drivers transitioning to the IndyCar Series.

Six drivers completed 354 laps on the 1.7-mile, 11-turn circuit. The start of the day was delayed until noon after strong rains came through the area just before the scheduled start time of 9 a.m. The session also was interrupted for approximately 30 minutes in the afternoon when the No. 18 car driven by Bruno Junqueira made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 5. Junqueira was not injured.

Servia's fastest lap was 52.7035 seconds, 114.072 mph, besting his KV Racing Technology teammate Will Power by 0.2416 of a second. Servia completed 174 laps over the course of two days – most of any of the drivers.

"Honestly, I don't think we should give that much importance to the lap times themselves just because there was just 12 hours of a thousand cars running here, so there's a lot of rubber," Servia said. "I am happy with the balance of the car. Yesterday, we tried some things and I didn't really like the car. But, today we tried some other things that really suit me and I like the car. We ended up fast. I'm very happy that both cars ran trouble-free over the two days. That's a big accomplishment."

The drivers and teams head to Homestead-Miami Speedway for testing under the lights on March 24-25. They will be joined on the oval by transitioning teams HVM Racing, Newman Haas Lanigan Racing and Roth Racing drivers Marty Roth and Jay Howard, who did not participate in the Open Test in February.

Publicado por: ` el Mar 21 2008, 10:39 PM

Publicado por: ` el Mar 25 2008, 12:57 AM

Publicado por: ` el Mar 26 2008, 10:00 AM

Oriol el mas rapido entre los ex-ccws

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Ernesto Viso thought a phone call from his manager March 19 was to extend 23rd birthday greetings. That was an afterthought actually as the call to Barcelona, Spain, was to invite the driver to the IndyCar Series. "It was a good present," Viso said after completing two days of testing on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval in preparation for the March 29 season opener. Eleven drivers, including nine who are transitioning to the IndyCar Series from the Champ Car World Series, recorded 1,069 laps during five available hours on the 1.5-mile oval with a persistent and brisk westerly breeze (the two-day total reached 1,167). KV Racing Technology (Oriol Servia, Will Power), Conquest Racing (Enrique Bernoldi, Franck Perera), Dale Coyne Racing (Bruno Junqueira, Mario Moraes) and Newman/Haas/Laningan Racing (Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson) made use of every minute. Marty Roth and Jay Howard of Roth Racing also were granted track time because they did not participate in the full IndyCar Series oval Open Test in February. Servia topped the speed chart of the migrating drivers at 25.4360 seconds (210.175 mph). Roth led the field at 25.1200 (212.818 mph). Dan Wheldon's 25.0619 (213.312 mph) was the quickest lap of 17 cars at the Feb. 27-28 Open Test. The lone on-track incident over the sessions involved Rahal, whose No. 06 car made contact with the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier with two hours left. He was checked in the infield care center and cleared to drive. "The car felt really good," said Rahal, who had a quick lap of 25.4920 seconds (209.713 mph) among his 35. "I caught Oriol and overtook him in Turn 1 and was almost past him. I was on a higher line than I had been taking and that was a lot bumpier with a little less grip up there. The rear stepped out on me and I caught it and then it did it a second time and I couldn't catch it and crashed it." The next time out (March 28 practice and qualifying) for all drivers, it will be with considerably more traffic on the high-banked oval, at higher speeds and will determine their starting position for the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300. Viso, who totaled xxx laps in the No. 33 HVM Racing car over the two days, acknowledged being "a little dizzy" initially on the track, which is analogous to the whirlwind since learning where he would be racing this year. "Everything was quick," said Viso, who last year competed in the GP2 Series. "The 20th I was in Indy with a lot of jet lag. The 21st we were doing the seat fitting. The 22nd we flew here and rested (March 23). We started testing (March 24). "At the start I was very tired because I was not breathing in the corners. Everything was like a video game. Once I did more and more laps, I got used to it. I'm still learning and will be learning in the coming races." Even for a veteran with 27 oval starts, there's a learning curve. "It would be tough even if we would have made the move in October," KV Racing Technology's Oriol Servia said. "There's nothing really to compare with the old Homestead (6 degrees of banking). In my head, (the 18- to 20-degree variably-banked track) feels more like Fontana and Michigan – high banking, lot of speed, full throttle when you have new tires. We're learning so much with the car, but the race weekend is here soon. We don't have much time." Time is a luxury since teams committed to the unified series competing under the IndyCar Series banner. "Time is important; it is more than gold in racing," Viso said. "Time is also what we need outside the car. The guys did a perfect job to prepare the car in four days. They started from scratch." Some crew members were scratching their heads during the testing days, waiting for delivery of parts and spares. And a 6-foot-3 driver just sought some comfort. "We just have a few more bits to do inside the cockpit to make me feel more comfortable," Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing's Justin Wilson said. "Fitting in these cars is not a straight-forward thing."

Cold (By South Florida standards) and windy. Cross-winds through the corners.

Very tense atmosphere. Teams are not happy. Not happy about the merger. Not happy about the rush to get ready for the race. And some not happy about the chassis they have acquired.

One Mechanic told me that the car that they received bends like a skateboard. A crew chief told me that there just wasn't enough time to get ready.

Was told that ticket sales are slower than last years, Yep. Merger is reaping benefits already.

Was weird to see the N/H/L McDonalds colors on a Dallara.

The Coyne People were still rushing to get Bruno's car together. Was finally finished until after the dinner break. Then he couldn't find a gear when the final session began. Once the car was fixed Bruno quickly became smooth out there.

Interesting to see so many cars with noses and other parts that have pain schemes that are obviously from other teams.

Servia really impressed me. He was fast.

Wilson looked tentative.

Did you know that Bondo fixes Carbon Fiber on a Dallara?

I am really beginning to hate Oval racing for formula cars. We were on the roof of the Speedway when Graham backed into turn 2. For a second I was really worried but he emerged unscathed. We got the whole thing on tape. Jeff, my main man, has a knack at following the car that will do something interesting. He was following Graham around for a few laps leading up to the crash and got it all on tape. We took it to the N/H/L hauler and sat with Graham and his crew chief and went over the tape. He got loose in turn one passing Servia. When he corrected the car also bottomed out and lost grip which caused him to back into the wall in turn to. Pretty cool comparing the telemetry to the video.

The N/H/L guys will be working all tomorrow trying to put Graham's car back together for this weekend. Biggest problem….No Spare Parts.

Publicado por: ` el Mar 29 2008, 01:24 PM

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - - MARCH 28, 2008 - - KV Racing Technology began its inaugural IndyCar Series season by qualifying both cars for tomorrow's Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300 at Homestead Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.

Oriol Servia, KV Racing Technology #5 Honda/Dallara/Firestone, qualified 16th overall with an average speed of 209.021 mph on the 1.5-mile high-banked oval. Teammate Will Power, KV Racing Technology #8 Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia Honda/Dallara/Firestone, who was making his first appearance on a big oval, will start 21st after averaging 208.029 mph.

KVRT, which received its first IndyCar chassis just three weeks ago and has only tested on an oval once, a two day test on March 24-25 here in Homestead, spent the first practice continuing the development work they began earlier this week. With the emphasis on learning, improving the car and getting track time, Power notched the team's fast lap during the one hour and 45 minute practice with a speed of 209.070 mph (25.570 seconds), which put him 19th on the speed charts out of a field of 25 cars. Servia, who is making his second appearance at Homestead in a high horsepower car, logged the 21st fastest lap with a speed of 208.695 mph (25.616 seconds).

In Friday's second practice, which was split into two groups each with 30 minutes of track time, the team again continued to focus on developing the car. Power went out with the first group and appeared to have an improved machine. Despite running a slower speed, 208.528 mph (25.636), than during the first session he was 15th on the speed charts for the session, but remained 19th on the combined report. Servia, who practiced with the second group, once again recorded the 21st fastest lap clocking a speed of 206.964 mph (25.830) as the team worked diligently to balance his car.

In qualifying Power went out eighth of the 26 cars for his first big oval qualifying session. Unfortunately, he could not find the speed and will start on Row #11. Servia, however, saved his best for last. Taking to the track 18th in the qualifying order he put together four very consistent laps, all easily his fastest of the day, and will start on Row #8.

Commenting on his qualifying effort and tomorrow's race Servia said, "Overall we are trying to learn in two days what other teams have learned in five years. I thought I had the best car that I've had all weekend in qualifying today, which is what you want. And tomorrow I am sure we will have an even better car. What I would like is a balanced consistent car for the race tomorrow like I had for qualifying today. For KVRT, we just want to get some speed, do some miles, learn the car and just have a consistent race tomorrow."

Power noted, "I was basically flat all the way round, I felt the KVRT Aussie Vineyard – Team Australia car was improved from practice today, but we were lacking a little bit of pace. For me it is just about the race, get as many miles as I can, learn how to run in traffic while finding more out about the car."

Publicado por: ` el Apr 20 2008, 10:20 AM

Historic day

By Dave Lewandowski

indycar.com

MOTEGI, Japan - Since exploding into the consciousness of an international audience at the 2005 Indianapolis 500, Danica Patrick has answered incessant questions of when she would win an IndyCar Series race. Next question, please. Patrick, competing in her 50th IndyCar Series race, became the first female to win a major auto racing event.

● The setting: The Indy Japan 300 on the Twin Ring Motegi oval. ● The scenario: Moving from ninth place on Lap 189, seeing leaders pit for a splash of fuel a few laps later and overtaking Helio Castroneves on Lap 198. ● The post-race scene: The sun broke through for the first time all weekend as Patrick made her way through a sea of well-wishers to the victory stage.

"Finally," Patrick said through tears before a victory lap to compose her thoughts. "This is a long time coming. It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I know I was on the same strategy as Helio, and when I passed him for the lead I couldn't believe it. This is fabulous."

A few minutes later, fans streamed down the frontstretch grandstand to get a closer glimpse (and hopefully a snapshot) of the winner - proof they were witness to history and had the ability to return to the venue after the sixth annual race was postponed 22 hours because of rain. "I've always said that I wouldn't do this, but on my last lap I was kind of just excited," said Patrick, 26. "And when I actually had to talk on my radio, finally the emotion came out. I really couldn't manage any other words than 'thank you.' And then I was as relieved as I expected I would be years ago, how I knew I would feel when I won my first race."

Patrick has come close before, including after starting on the front row at Twin Ring Motegi in her fourth IndyCar Series race in '05. She finished fourth and really captured the public's attention a month later by becoming the first female to lead the Indianapolis 500. Patrick finished fourth again, and over the next two-plus seasons (with Rahal Letterman Racing and now Andretti Green Racing) second place (at Belle Isle last September) had been the high-water mark. "I've been asked so many times when I'm going to win my first race, and finally, no more of those questions."

No, they will turn to 'When can you win another?' starting with the RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway in a week.

"It feels like it's taken a long time," she continued. "I had a lot of opportunities last year that were missed due to bad luck. I can only say I'm just glad it's over."

Patrick, who competed in European junior formulas seeking her open-wheel racing break, returned to the States to compete in the Toyota Atlantic series in 2003 for Team Rahal. Co-owner Bobby Rahal gave her the opportunity in 2005. The move was met with some questions about a relatively inexperienced driver - and a female - competing in the premier North American open-wheel racing series. "I think that the disadvantage to overcome was just that I hadn't won," Patrick said. "A lot of women hadn't really proved on a consistent basis that they could be a good driver and always run up front. I think there had been times when they had done well but not consistently.

"I can't tell you that I blame them for not believing that we could do it. But when you have 100 guys come through, finding one good one, the odds are a lot better than 100 girls since it takes a lot longer for 100 to come through. The odds are against us. But I grew up with never really using guys as a reference, using drivers as a reference, and if I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't fast enough. That was the most important thing."

The car was plenty fast enough at Twin Ring Motegi. Her team calculated the fuel mileage to the liter. And Patrick drove into history.

Publicado por: ` el May 5 2008, 10:55 PM

INDY 500: Rookie Quality and Quantity at ROP

It's the largest rookie crop since 1997 but there's as much quality as there is quantity in Gasoline Alley, and it showed Sunday afternoon. A dozen drivers – let's label them first-timers instead of rookies – completed 642 error-free laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on an opening day that saw 10 of them breeze through their four-phase driving test.

The daunting oval that's shaped the landscape of American motorsports for nearly 100 years offered no surprises or horror stories on a mild, sunny day.

"Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous at all," said 19-year-old Graham Rahal after taking only 34 laps to complete his test with a top lap of 218 mph. "I think if you get yourself all worked up about it, you get really nervous and then you makes mistakes.

"Obviously, it's great to get this ROP out of the way and I guess I didn't expect to go as fast as we did right away. But I'm a rookie so I don't know what to expect."

Teammates Will Power and Oriol Servia, who logged almost 100 laps apiece and topped 220 mph for the KV Racing entries, had different

"Man, it's a scary place at first and going into the corners off those long straightaways it's really fast," said Power, the recent winner at Long Beach who posted the fastest lap at 220.694 mph. "I kept thinking, how do you get around this place flat?

"I was thrilled we were finally able to get to that point (flat out) near the end of the day but getting those next five-six mph is probably going to be the challenge. You've just got to be smart and you don't want this place to bite you."

It's actually Servia's second time at IMS. He tried to make the show at the last minute in 2002 and was running quick enough but broke a fuel pump.

"It's definitely going to be fun having the whole month to work with the car and try to get competitive," said the 32-year-old veteran from Spain. "I've been racing over here for 10 years and never had a real shot at Indy so I'm very excited. This place is all about getting into a rhythm and today was a good way to start. But this is like no other oval you ever see."

E.J. Viso was warned about Indy's tricky turns but had no trouble adapting in his HVM Racing Dallara-Honda.

"I heard from some other drivers how difficult and scary the track is but I didn't think it was too bad," said Viso, who was second fastest at 220.445 mph. "For sure, the speeds are higher and it's quite a long lap but it's nice we get so much time to prepare.

"It's going to be much better than my first two ovals because it seemed like we got very little practice."

The last time Justin Wilson ran Indy, Turn 1 was actually the last corner of the United States Grand Prix, where he finshed eighth in 2003.

"This definitely feels like the proper way around this track and I wondered what it would feel like when I was here inF1," said Wilson, who ran just over 218 mph for Newman/Haas/Lanigan. "Someone said it was like four quick corners on a road course and that's kinda how I found it. Unlike some ovals, the car goes where you point it and I rather like that. It was fun to drive today."

Alex Lloyd, the defending IPS champion who Chip Ganassi has farmed out to Rahal Letterman this month, quickly reached 219 mph as did Hideki Mutoh and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Jamie Camara and Jay Howard were the other drivers completing all four phases of their test, while Enrique Bernoldi and Mario Moraes expect to get theirs finished Monday.

Publicado por: f1fansince1987 el Jun 27 2008, 12:46 PM

Servia tops Richmond rookie practice (fuente:Autosport)

Oriol Servia set the quickest time in the rookie practice session for this weekend's IndyCar round at Richmond International Raceway.

Eight IRL rookies had a 90-minute practice session, with four IndyCar drivers who have not previously raced at Richmond, the shortest oval on the calendar at 0.75 miles, granted half an hour of practice ahead of the full sessions that begin this evening.

Servia's best lap, a 16.139 (167.295mph), was the best of the sessions, ahead of his KV Racing teammate Will Power (165.185mph), EJ Viso and Enrique Bernoldi.

"The car felt comfortable, I liked the balance, although I can see that the race must be really tough in traffic," said Servia. "It's hard on your own because everything is narrow and you have issues getting your marks.

"I can only imagine how it's going to be with 26 cars. I can see this is a place where you can make mistakes easily so we're going to have to keep our brain on top of the game."

Publicado por: ` el Jun 28 2008, 09:39 AM

Kanaan claims Richmond pole

By Jeff Olson and Matt Beer Saturday, June 28th 2008, 00:28 GMT Tony Kanaan will lead teammate Marco Andretti in an all-Andretti Green front row in Saturday night's Richmond round of the IRL IndyCar Series, after a welcome change of luck for the Brazilian driver.

Kanaan, whose season has been filled with misfortune, took advantage of the luck of the draw to beat Andretti by just 0.03 seconds over four laps of the 0.75-mile oval.

By the time Kanaan got on track, the sun had set and the 98-degree heat had settled into a less beastly temperature range.

"It's an advantage to go out that late, for sure, but it's also pure luck," Kanaan said. "It's the number you draw. If you wanted to talk about luck with me this year, I think I deserve a little bit of the good kind."

The effort knocked Andretti from P1, but also came with his help. After Andretti's run, Kanaan's crew made changes suggested by Andretti's crew, then took the pole from him.

"We made an adjustment right before we went out based on the feedback we got from Marco," Kanaan said. "We've been working very well together, and we had the exact same set-ups. I was able to make my car a little bit quicker than his."

With the track washed clean of rubber by an afternoon storm but conditions becoming increasingly conducive to fast times as the weather cooled, the evening qualifying session saw a number of surprises - including Graham Rahal grabbing third for Newman/Haas/Lanigan on a day when his teammate Justin Wilson, who had been much earlier in the order, only managed 23rd place.

"We made changes and it got cooler," Rahal said. "We're so happy that it finally came together for us."

Championship leader Scott Dixon held provisional pole for much of the session before being edged back to fourth as others benefited from the improving conditions.

"We think we left a lot on the table," said Dixon, who has now qualified in the top four for eight of this season's nine races. "With the track cooling off, it got better."

The Ganassi driver will start just of the highly-impressive Buddy Rice, who earned a giant-killing fifth place for Dreyer & Reinbold. The result was Rice's best qualifying performance for nearly three seasons, and helped make up for the frustrations of Iowa a week ago, where he was classified 22nd.

"It was disappointing last week," Rice said. "This is a place that's an equaliser. We left stuff out there. Hopefully we can rebound here."

Publicado por: f1fansince1987 el Jun 29 2008, 04:25 AM

Tony Kanaan finally took his first victory of the 2008 IRL IndyCar Series season by winning from pole on an extremely destructive evening at Richmond.

The race saw a total of nine cautions, mostly compacted into the event's disjointed first half, with only 10 cars completing the distance without damage.

Penske's Helio Castroneves recovered from his poor qualifying to take second, as series leader Scott Dixon completed the podium ahead of his Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon, whose car faltered - apparently out of fuel - at the final corner, costing him third.

But while Andretti Green Racing could celebrate Kanaan's win, they missed out on a potential one-two when Marco Andretti lost ground by pitting under green having led much of the race, leaving the young American ninth at the flag.

The opening laps set the tone for the chaos that followed, with the yellow emerging immediately for Ryan Hunter-Reay's harmless spin at the tail of the field. No sooner had the race resumed on lap six than the pace car was out again after Will Power lost control while being passed by Helio Castroneves and slammed into the wall.

The field managed nine laps of green between this incident and a tangle between John Andretti and AJ Foyt IV on lap 24. While Andretti continued unscathed, Foyt hit the wall and threw debris into the path of his Vision Racing teammate Ed Carpenter, who required a long stop for suspension repairs.

A prolonged green stint then followed at last, with Kanaan leading Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and Dixon in a close lead battle. They all pitted during the lap 68 caution for debris, allowing Conquest's Jaime Camara and AGR's Danica Patrick to move to the front of the field, having both stopped out of sequence under earlier yellows.

Kanaan rejoined third, with Castroneves up to fourth from 18th on the grid thanks to a superb early charge and a very rapid stop.

Another plethora of yellows then followed, as at the restart Buddy Rice spun his Dreyer & Reinbold car into the wall and out of a strong seventh place, and then Ryan Briscoe tangled with both Darren Manning and Bruno Junqueira in the middle of the pack. The next attempt at a restart was equally unsuccessful, with John Andretti having his second collision of the evening - this time eliminating both himself and Vitor Meira.

Patrick chose to pit under this yellow, while Marco Andretti had jumped Castroneves at the previous restart and then passed both Kanaan and Camara in quick succession once racing resumed in earnest, hitting the front on lap 116 and quickly pulling away.

Andretti then decided not to stop when the pace car emerged yet again on lap 131 after Rahal crashed out of seventh place, whereas most of the rest of the field pitted under either this caution or the one that followed soon after when Hunter-Reay and Mario Moraes tangled just after the restart.

That kept Andretti at the front of the field, but left him out of sequence compared to the chasing Kanaan, Castroneves and Camara. The American continued to edge away from the pack and hoped to stretch his fuel load to the next yellow, only for the race to finally run uninterrupted for a lengthy period. Andretti ultimately had to stop under green on lap 204, losing a lap in the process.

His hopes depended on the rest of the leaders also having to pit under green, but 14 laps later Camara crashed out of his superb third place, allowing everyone else to stop under the resultant yellow - although Andretti at least managed to get back on the lead lap when waved around by the pace car.

The race then ran trouble-free for the final 71-lap run to the flag, with Kanaan calmly inching away from Castroneves to win by a comfortable five seconds.

Behind the Ganassi duo, KV Racing's Oriol Servia had a strong race to fifth ahead of Patrick, Justin Wilson (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) and Townsend Bell (Dreyer & Reinbold), as Andretti found it hard to make progress in the final stint, falling a lap down again and having to settle for ninth.

Publicado por: ` el Jun 29 2008, 09:20 AM

An interview with Oriol Servia, Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan

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IndyCar Series

SunTrust Indy Challenge

RichmondInternational Raceway

June 28, 2008

THE MODERATOR: Our fifth‑place finisher, Oriol Servia. Interesting night, what was your take? ORIOL SERVIA: It was a really busy day. It's a difficult place and the car was great. Since we unloaded on Thursday, I told the guys, I said, "Listen, I think we have a Top‑5 car." So I'm really pleased I was able to prove it and finish fifth. We started at tenth and really worked our way up, and every spot we gained, we really gained it through working hard. I passed many cars on the restarts and we passed cars on pit stops, so I think we all did our job and I'm extremely pleased. Everybody expected us to do well on street and road courses, but I wanted to show that the team is really capable of doing a good job on ovals, so we kind of showed it in Milwaukee and we showed it again today. Q. (No mic.) ORIOL SERVIA: Well, I don't know. I don't know what to say. We knew that the tires were really fast at the beginning and the pace would slow down for everybody. So it was a question to see who had the most consistent cars through the spin. And Helio, obviously from where he was, he was extremely faster than anybody on his team but then he was quite slow, I think he was getting very loose later in the seam and then he would pass us early and then kind of slow down. So it was all a question of how your car was through the seam, and unfortunately we didn't have a jacket through this race, so that handicapped how many things you can do on the car through the different fuel loads and tire life. But fortunately the car was very consistent and fast on the full spin. Q. Was there an issue on restarts? ORIOL SERVIA: It's just that we are all racers and once we know the pace, it's really hard to overtake anybody, until you get into traffic so restarts are your best bet. I made most of my moves on restarts on the outside and inside and everywhere, and everybody tries the same. On the restarts the tires are colder and when you take the biggest grips is when you have the hardest time on the lap time, so that's why it's very easy to lose it. That's why you're seeing all that action happening. Q. How tough was it today to pass? ORIOL SERVIA: My car was good on highs and lows, but tough on restarts or when the guy was ahead of me. When I was losing the downforce, I couldn't get closer. And like now at the end when Danica was faster than me and I was catching lap cars, I just couldn't pass the lap cars, and then she had many chances to overtake me. Fortunately I was able to keep her behind, and she was difficult.

Oval marker

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By Dave Lewandowski

indycar.com

RICHMOND, Va. - Oriol Servia forecast a top-five finish for the No. 5 KV Racing Technology car before the first practice session at Richmond International Raceway. "Fortunately, I was able to prove it," said the first-year IndyCar Series driver, who recorded a career-best fifth place on an oval in the SunTrust Indy Challenge. Servia, who started 10th, finished sixth at Milwaukee to tag onto 11th-place finishes at Kansas and Indianapolis. "Everybody expected us to do well on the road and street courses, but I really wanted to prove the team is capable of doing a good job on ovals," he said. "Obviously, we have started to work out these short ovals and now we have to work on the big ones, but every time we are moving forward." Team co-owner Jimmy Vasser wrapped his arms around Servia, soaking wet from the 300 laps run in temperatures that dropped to the mid-80s. "Our first top-five, it's great," said Vasser, the 1996 CART season champion. "Oriol drove a great race, the guys did a great job in the pits and we had our sponsors here from Plantronics. I think we had a pretty strong car all weekend. It was just a great day. Now we're looking forward to getting into the meat of the road course part of the season, and I think we'll be well-prepared."

Publicado por: ` el Jul 5 2008, 08:46 PM

Briscoe claims Watkins Glen pole

By Matt Beer Saturday, July 5th 2008, 19:05 GMT

Ryan Briscoe, Penske, Watkins Glen qualifyingRyan Briscoe claimed his first IRL IndyCar Series pole position in three years in qualifying for the Watkins Glen race.

The Penske driver beat Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Justin Wilson to the top spot by 0.03 seconds in the final shoot-out for pole position.

Wilson chose to sit out the final moments hoping his time would prove unbeatable, only to see Briscoe sneak ahead.

Ryan Hunter-Reay (Rahal Letterman Racing) qualified an impressive third, beating championship leader Scott Dixon (Ganassi), who will chase his fourth straight Watkins Glen win from the outside of row two after an error on his final flying lap.

Dixon's closest title rival Helio Castroneves - who was aiming for a fourth consecutive Watkins Glen pole - will start from the tail of the 26-car field after his Penske Dallara-Honda suffered a mechanical problem before he could set a time in the first part of qualifying.

Under this year's road and street course qualifying regulations, the field is split into two groups for the first session. The top six from each group then unite for a 15-minute session that decides positions seven to 12 on the grid and sends the final six cars through to a ten minute shoot-out for the first three rows.

KV's Oriol Servia and Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan were the other men to make it through to the top six and will share row three.

Ganassi's Dan Wheldon was only ninth, despite feeling that he had his most competitive road course set-up since joining the team. Vitor Meira (Panther) completed the top ten.

Bruno Junqueira had been fastest of all in the first qualifying group and looked set to mount a shock pole challenge for the tiny Dale Coyne Racing team.

But his strategy of waiting until late in the top 12 segment before attempting his flying laps backfired when Will Power (KV Racing) crashed at Turn 7. The stoppage to clear up Power's debris shortened the session by several minutes and led to a frantic last minute rush in which Junqueira could only manage 11th.

His teammate Mario Moraes and Andretti Green's Danica Patrick could consider themselves unfortunate not to make it through from the group stages of qualifying to fight for the top 12.

Both ran in group two and set faster times than the group one pace-setters, who had not been able to make their final runs after their session was curtailed when AJ Foyt IV spun his Vision Racing car into the Turn 7 barriers. But despite their speed, as Moraes and Patrick were only seventh and eighth in the faster second group, they will have to start from row seven.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing managed to repair Graham Rahal's car after his practice crash, but the St Petersburg winner was only able to take 18th on the grid in his patchwork car, which was running with various pieces of teammate Wilson's spare bodywork.

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 5 KV Racing Technology, fifth): "It was just one of those races. The KV Racing Technology car was as good, if not better than any car out there, but the race just didn't go our way. We had a couple of issues on the pits stops and lost some places, but the car was good enough to pick them back up on track. Then I was racing with Dan Wheldon, and Marco (Andretti) came out of the pits and he parked it in the chicane. I tried to slow down, Wheldon braked hard, but had nowhere to go and I hit him really hard. I broke the front wing, but the car didn't lose too much lap time. It was just the last two laps, the steering arm started to break, and on the last lap it completely broke. So, in a way we were unlucky, but lucky to finish at all. We still managed to get some good points for the championship, but it was disappointing because we had a car to battle with whoever we wanted today."

Publicado por: f1fansince1987 el Sep 1 2008, 04:28 AM

Uri cuarto!

Wilson takes first IRL win in Detroit

Justin Wilson claimed his first win in the IRL IndyCar Series in Detroit after Helio Castroneves was awarded to relinquish the lead by race control having allegedly blocked the Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver.

Until the controversial late call by the officials, Castroneves looked set to take his third win at the Detroit street course and carve into title rival Scott Dixon's championship lead. With Dixon only finishing fifth, Castroneves has still reduced his deficit, but the title is now Dixon's to lose at Chicagoland next week.

Dixon and Castroneves had stormed away from the field in unison in the opening stages, pulling out a huge lead over the rest of the pack.

But when Dixon's Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon - who had made a tactical early stop - tangled with Conquest's Jaime Camara and caused a yellow on lap 17, Dixon chose to make his first pit stop while the majority of the field stayed on track.

That dropped Dixon to 18th place, and as the Kiwi made slow progress through the midfielders, Castroneves stormed away from KV's Oriol Servia, Wilson and Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan at the front of the field.

By the time Castroneves made his own first stop under green on lap 30, his advantage was such that he was able to rejoin still ahead of Dixon, whose traffic delays meant that he was back in fifth place once all the front-runners had pitted.

Dixon would remain there for the rest of the afternoon, while Castroneves comfortably pulled away after every yellow and at one stage led by a full 16 seconds.

However when separate incidents for Wheldon and Mario Moraes (Dale Coyne Racing) caused the final caution with 25 laps to go, the pack was able to close back in on Castroneves.

Wilson had passed Servia for second in the pits and he launched an immediate attack on Castroneves when racing resumed. The Brazilian held on to the lead, but his defensive tactics attracted the ire of the race officials, and he was ordered to allow Wilson past. He duly obeyed the instruction, allowing Wilson to sweep ahead on lap 73.

Despite Castroneves' best efforts, Wilson was able to cruise home and clinch his first win since joining N/H/L and moving to the IndyCar Series, with the furious Castroneves having to settle for a close second place - putting him 30 points behind Dixon going into the finale.

They finished comfortably clear of third-placed Kanaan, with Servia holding off Dixon for fourth. Ryan Hunter-Reay (Rahal Letterman) completed the top six.

Bruno Junqueira used great strategy and some bold passes to move up from the back of the grid to seventh for Dale Coyne Racing, ahead of KV's Will Power, who lost ground when he damaged his front wing on Hunter-Reay's car, and Ryan Briscoe (Penske), who became caught in traffic having followed the same pit strategy as Dixon.

This pit plan also backfired for Wilson's teammate Graham Rahal, who dropped back from sixth to 13th when he had to make a late extra fuel stop. That allowed Vision Racing's AJ Foyt IV to fill the final top ten spot.

Other incidents saw EJ Viso crash out alone when on course for a top eight finish, Vitor Meira and Danica Patrick spoil their races with a collision, and Marco Andretti's uncompetitive weekend end in a gearbox failure.

Tomas Scheckter never had a chance to feature after his Luczo Dragon car broke a half-shaft on the opening lap, but he was able to rejoin following a long stop for repairs - as did debutant Alex Tagliani, whose Conquest Dallara had gearbox problems in the early stages.

“You’re our guy, the team is behind you and we really want you back but....” Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power, Oriol Servia and Justin Wilson have all heard this same refrain during the past few months.

It’s the state of IndyCar racing in this economically challenging time that these four proven racers are all free agents. As it stands today, this quartet is experienced, proven, fast and all without a deal for 2009.

”I should be prepared for this since this is nothing new for my career,” said Servia, who has seldom felt security during his nine years in CART/Champ Car/IndyCar. “But, because of unification and because I think I showed myself well this past season, I figured I’ve had two or three offers by now.

“I had higher expectations we’d all know what we are doing by now, but that’s not the case.”

With one series for the first time in 12 years and a consistent 26-car lineup, it appeared good times had finally returned for drivers. But the uncertainty of employment and car count looms large heading for Thanksgiving.

The one-car Rahal Letterman effort, which won Watkins Glen and ran up front most of 2008 with Hunter-Reay, is in serious jeopardy of losing Ethanol as its sponsor.

“‘Bleak’ is the word that is being used,” said Hunter-Reay, referring to Ethanol’s chances of returning as primary sponsor. “It’s looking pretty bad and my contract has not been renewed, so I’m available.”

Rahal admitted that he’s “concerned and nervous” about Ethanol coming back for a fourth year.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing picked up the option on Graham Rahal, but not Wilson because it has only McDonald’s on board as a sponsor.

“They thought they had a sponsor lined up but it fell through, so they told me I need to put my own interests first,” said Wilson, a winner at Detroit in his initial IRL season. “So, I’m seeing what options are out there and they told me to get back to them before I signed anything.”

The KV Racing duo of Power and Servia showed best week in and week out of the transition teams from Champ Car, but without a race in Australia anymore and sponsor Craig Gore likely out because of that, Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser are scrambling to find sponsorship.

“They want to keep me – we had some success together and like working with my guys, but KV doesn’t have a big sponsor and I don’t have a deal yet for next year,” said Power, who captured the Champ Car finale at Long Beach and was running away at Surfer’s from the pole before crashing out.

“The team wants to keep us both and I know Kevin and Jimmy are working hard to find something, but we don’t have a deal,” said Servia, who had four Top 5s and qualified up front at all the road races.

Of course the big problem is that there are so few options available. “There’s very little out there,” said Wilson.

Depending on the outcome of Helio Castroneves’ Federal Court trial in March on tax evasion charges, one very good http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-free-agents-abound/# could come open. But who wants to wait that long to see if there’s a job opening?

“It’s frustrating and mentally draining,” said Hunter-Reay, who at 28 is in the prime of his career. “You do a good job and then you don’t know if you’re going to even have a job. Justin, Will, Oriol and I were standing around at the banquet saying, ‘Man, this is ridiculous.’”

The waiting game takes it toll, even on guys like Servia. “I hate to be in this position again,” he said.

Added Power: “I had an offer to go back and do V8 SuperCup, but I want to stay here in Indy cars.”

With a new mouth to feed (baby daughter), Wilson knows his No. 1 goal. “Right now I’ve got to take care of myself and my family, so I’m calling everyone. I get a lot of compliments and people tell me I’m high on their list, but that doesn’t get me a ride.”

Throw in Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira, Tomas Scheckter and Darren Manning and the list of good free agents in IndyCar is startling. Hunter-Reay, who replaced Jeff Simmons at Rahal Letterman in 2007 after being abandoned in Champ Car, knows what the others are feeling.

Publicado por: f1fansince1987 el May 14 2009, 09:05 AM

Rahal Letterman Racing has confirmed that it will run Oriol Servia in this year's Indianapolis 500.

The team, which won the 2004 race with Buddy Rice, has been unable to put together a full-season programme for the IndyCar Series, but had always been determined to return for Indy, even though it was not ready for the first weekend of qualifying.

Team boss Bobby Rahal is confident that Servia will be competitive despite his late start to the month.

"We have worked very hard all year in order to put this programme together for the Indianapolis 500 and we feel like we have a package that will allow us to go to Indy and perform well," Rahal said.

"The team's experience, combined with a veteran talent like Oriol, should give us everything we need to be competitive throughout the event."

Servia also started this season on the sidelines, having lost his KV Racing drive when the team scaled back to a single car.

"Sometimes being stubborn is not such a bad thing," said the Spaniard, who was the highest-placed Champ Car convert in last year's IndyCar standings.

"I had a great season last year and I feel I am at the top of my game. Although the season started without me having a ride I knew that if I was patient enough something good would happen.

"I am really excited to announce this opportunity I have been given to participate in the greatest race in the world with one of the best teams in open wheel history. I have raced many years against the Rahal Letterman team and makes me very proud to be finally part of it."

Tony George resigns as CEO of IRL and IMSBy Curt CavinPosted: June 30, 2009

Tony George resigned his position as chief executive officer of Hulman & Co., the Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp. today, but he will remain on the board of the family’s organization.

He will be replaced by Curt Brighton (Hulman & Co.) and Jeff Belskus (IMS Corp.). George, 49, became president and CEO of Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp. in January of 1990 after the death of Joe Cloutier.

George brought NASCAR, Formula One and MotoGP to the Speedway, founded the IRL, oversaw the redevelopment of the facility and led the development of such safety initiatives as the SAFER barrier and the Delphi Safety Team, a group of medical personnel that travels to each Indy-car race. Last year, he was the driving force behind unification of the sport.

But he came under criticism from family members for his financial commitments, particularly the IRL — now in its 14th season — and Vision Racing, the team his stepson, Ed Carpenter, drives for. Last month, board members declined to continue funding the second Vision car that Ryan Hunter-Reay was driving.

Publicado por: ` el Aug 4 2009, 12:27 PM

Robert Doornbos has parted company with Newman/Haas/Lanigan, which likely leaves one seat open for IndyCar's remaining five races and possibly pairs the Dutch driver with his former team in Champ Car for the rest of 2009.

"We had a 12-race deal with Robert, which we fulfilled, and we tried to get an extension but, evidently, he's decided to go somewhere else," said Mike Lanigan, who added that he and partner Carl Haas had not received any "official" notification from Doornbos.Will "Bobby D" be paired with the team and engineer that delivered his two ChampCar wins in 2007? (LAT) » More Photos

"Now we've got to figure out if we're going to continue to run a second car."

The logical replacement would be Oriol Servia, Paul Tracy or Bruno Junqueira, all former NHL drivers with good track records who are currently without rides as IndyCar heads to Mid-Ohio this weekend.

Doornbos, classified as a rookie in IndyCar despite his experience in Formula One and Champ Car, was believed to be interested in hooking up with Keith WigginsHVM operation, where he scored a pair of victories in 2007 in Champ Car.

The 27-year-old native of The Netherlands has struggled this season and been consistently out-performed by his 20-year-old teammate, Graham Rahal. He's had a few mechanical issues and reportedly stormed out of Kentucky Speedway last Saturday after finishing 15 laps behind due to several unscheduled pit stops.

Doornbos' best results were ninth at Long Beach, Richmond and Watkins Glen while he qualified on the outside of the front row at Kansas City and seventh at Toronto.

Wiggins, who could not be reached for comment, thought he would be running Doornbos alongside E.J. Viso in '09 before Bobby D. switched to NHL. It's no secret HVM could use some sponsorship and Doornbos' father is funding his efforts.

Also, Conquest Racing will have former IRL driver Kosuke Matsuura in their car at Motegi, but not before Nelson Phillipe drives the car at Sonoma and Chicago. Eric Bachelart's team is doing everything they can to keep moving forward, even if it means playing musical chairs right now.

Oriol Servia, the smooth veteran who always gets the job done but can't seem to find a steady job, will replace Robert Doornbos at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing this weekend at Mid-Ohio.

SPEEDtv.com has also learned that Doornbos is re-joining his old squad at HVM Racing for the remainder of 2009.

Servia, who substituted for the injured Bruno Junqueira in 2005 at NHL and finished second in the Champ Car standings to teammate Sebastien Bourdais, could not be reached for comment at his Atlanta home but is expected to be in Chicago on Wednesday for a seat fitting at Carl Haas' shop.

The 35-year-old Spaniard's lone start in 2009 came at Indianapolis, where he drove for Rahal/Letterman Racing and finished 26th after suffering mechanical failure. His ride with KV Racing evaporated when the sponsor dropped out last winter. Calls to co-owners Mike Lanigan and Haas were not returned but Lanigan had said on Monday that Servia was on the team's short list. It's believed he's got the ride for Mid-Ohio and Sonoma but the last three oval-track races could go to someone else.

Doornbos, who had a 12-race deal with NHL with a best finish of ninth, left the team after last weekend's race in Kentucky and is now back with owner Keith Wiggins and engineer Michael Cannon, the combination that got him into victory lane twice in his rookie Champ Car campaign in 2007.

Wiggins did not return phone calls and Doornbos was in transit to Indianapolis on Tuesday night.

Publicado por: tenista el Aug 8 2009, 07:39 PM

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Ryan Briscoe set an event record lap of 1 minute, 06.6814 seconds to claim the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance on Aug. 9.

Briscoe, who won the race last year in the No. 6 Team Penske car, will be joined on the front row by Justin Wilson (1:06.7007) in the No. 18 Z-Lines Design car for Dale Coyne Racing. Reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon will start third in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, while Graham Rahal will share Row 2 after a quick lap of 1:07.0640 in the Firestone Fast Six shootout in the No. 02 McDonald's car for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

Helio Castroneves, who started from the pole in 2007 and '08 in the No. 3 Team Penske car, will be on Row 3 with Dario Franchitti.

More to come

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=14838

Publicado por: f1fansince1987 el Aug 8 2009, 10:37 PM

Oriol Servia was squeezed out of the top 12 late in the group sessions, and will start his return to the IndyCar Series from 14th on the grid. Robert Doornbos, who Servia has replaced at Newman/Haas/Lanigan, was 18th on his return to his former Champ Car squad HVM.

Publicado por: ` el Aug 9 2009, 12:53 PM

mal

Publicado por: ` el Aug 9 2009, 12:53 PM

Oriol Servia, No. 06 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We didn’t manage to do the best job in terms of timing to get on track. We still could have been okay because the car felt really, really good especially on red tires but the yellow flag came out to end the session and I had only completed one (fast) lap. On the second lap I was already three-tenths (of a second) up in two corners then the full course yellow came out and we were seventh quick so we didn’t make it to the next round. We got on the track behind some slower cars and then it took me a lap to get a gap and I had only completed one fast lap before the yellow came out. It was a little bit of bad timing and bad luck. Unfortunately we couldn’t show what the car was capable of and I really felt comfortable finally. The car feels really good so it should be good for the race.”

Publicado por: tenista el Aug 9 2009, 05:19 PM

Publicado por: ` el Aug 9 2009, 10:06 PM

Oriol Servia, No. 06 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "In a way you hope for some luck or a crazy race when you start 14th but the truth is it was a pretty straightforward race. It was really hard to overtake and when you start 14th you have your work cut out for you. I hope they increase the Push to Pass to 25 horsepower from five. We got by two or three cars at the start and we passed people on restarts but then once everybody had their pace it was difficult to pass. I thought we had a car that was faster than whoever I had around me the whole race but it was just not enough to overtake. We were trying to save fuel a trying not to make mistake and see if other people would make them. It was my first race after a few months so I’m sure I will be sore tomorrow."

Publicado por: ` el Aug 24 2009, 10:32 AM

Oriol Servia, No. 06 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The weekend started as bad as it could which was not running in the only practice session before qualifying. But the car was good and I started to feel more comfortable with the track in the morning warmup and we were fifth fastest. It was just a matter of getting some clear laps to prepare. I knew we had a car to go fast. We saved a lot of fuel at the beginning which gave us an extra two or three laps on others and when they pitted we pushed and made up track position. For some reason I had a feeling that the start was going to be messy and it was; I don’t even know what happened. I just saw (car) parts and more parts flying in the air. There was a moment where I could have been a little more aggressive but you never know where the cars are going to be coming from. I’m happy no one touched us and we gained a lot of spots. Its always exciting racing with Justin; we’ve been racing together many years and its always as hard and fair as it gets. The proof of that is that he made a couple of over-optimistic maneuvers but he still managed not to wreck me or himself. It’s what you expect from a real racer. I was on blacks (Firestone standard tires) and everyone was on reds so I was sliding all over the place, more than them. But the car was great and I was able to keep ahead of Justin. It’s always exciting to come from the back and finish sixth. When you are that close to the front you always want more and you get a little hungrier. Considering how the weekend started and our starting position I think we should be pretty happy. It should be a good morale boost for the next couple of races and hopefully we’re going to be at the front. I want to thank Carl, Berni (Bernadette) and Mike for the opportunity to race here. I enjoyed it.”

FAST FACTS: Was his second race here. Last year he started sixth and finished 15th for KV Racing…Prior to racing at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago for NHLR, his previous road/street course race was in the 2008 season-ending exhibition race in Australia on October 26…Competed for the team in 2005 as the replacement driver for the injured Bruno Junqueira and earned seven podiums in 11 events…He earned 28 points and is ranked 27th overall with a total of 57 after running in three of the 14 races.

Dario Franchitti resisted race-long pressure from the Penske drivers to clinch victory at Sonoma.The Ganassi driver had Ryan Briscoe on his tail for the majority of the race, but managed to lead from flag to flag and secure a win that brought him back into the thick of the title fight as his team-mate Scott Dixon finished only 13th.Mike Conway recovered from a first lap collision to take a brilliant third, the Dreyer & Reinbold rookie's first IndyCar podium, ahead of Mario Moraes (KV) and Hideki Mutoh (Andretti Green).Dixon was another of the eight drivers involved in the opening lap tangle at Turn 2. The accident ended EJ Viso's race, and forced Marco Andretti, Conway, Tony Kanaan, Dixon, Franck Montagny, Danica Patrick and Graham Rahal to pit for repairs.After a lengthy yellow to tidy up debris from this incident, Franchitti and Penske driver Briscoe made an early break from the field, running nose to tail throughout the stint.Helio Castroneves had spent the opening laps resisting a strong challenge for third from Mutoh, but a change to the red tyres at his first pitstop allowed Castroneves to charge away from the Japanese driver and join Franchitti and Briscoe in a three-car lead train.The trio were covered by just a second for much of the middle stint, before Castroneves' victory challenge ended when he tangled with the yet-to-stop Kanaan just after his final pit visit. The Penske Dallara was briefly airborne and landed heavily, and it was little surprise to see Castroneves start tumbling down the order afterwards.He had fallen to sixth by the time his damaged suspension gave way on lap 66, sending him ploughing off the road and causing the final yellow.The late restart gave Briscoe - who had continued to lurk behind Franchitti after the last stops - a final shot at taking the lead, but the Scot would not be denied and edged clear in the sprint to the flag, although Briscoe's second place put him back in the championship lead.A late charge from Conway saw the rookie pass both Moraes and Mutoh in the closing laps, giving the Briton a shock podium despite his early delay.Mutoh also dropped behind Moraes after being wrong-footed by Conway's move. That earned Moraes a career-best fourth, after he benefited from the first lap crash and a great opening lap to leap up the order from 14th on the grid.Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Oriol Servia and Dale Coyne driver Justin Wilson came through to sixth and seventh after their troubled qualifying sessions. Servia escaped a mid-race tangle with Ryan Hunter-Reay that smashed the Foyt car's front wing, while Wilson made an errant tactical pitstop to take on 'red' tyres earlier than his rivals and also lost time with a half-spin while trying to overtake Mutoh.Kanaan claimed eighth, ahead of Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon) and Robert Doornbos (HVM). Dixon had been on course to salvage 10th, only to be nudged into a spin by Andretti at the final corner. The officials later reversed their positions to move Dixon up from 14th to 13th, leaving him 20 points behind Briscoe in the standings.Pos Driver Team Time/Gap1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1h49m23.0073s2. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 0.2488s3. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold + 0.8293s4. Mario Moraes KV + 3.6171s5. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green + 5.4536s6. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 6.3801s7. Justin Wilson Coyne + 6.6997s8. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 7.1808s9. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon + 8.5936s10. Robert Doornbos HVM + 10.8175s11. Ed Carpenter Vision + 11.3688s12. Dan Wheldon Panther + 12.4000s13. Scott Dixon Ganassi + 13.8968s14. Marco Andretti Andretti Green + 14.8978s15. Richard Antinucci 3G + 19.0650s16. Danica Patrick Andretti Green + 1 lap17. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold + 4 laps

Publicado por: ` el Sep 19 2009, 08:51 AM

Dixon takes victory and points lead

By Matt Beer Saturday, September 19th 2009, 04:52 GMT

Scott Dixon reclaimed the IndyCar Series points lead going into the Homestead finale by beating Ganassi team-mate Dario Franchitti to Motegi victory as Ryan Briscoe finished a disastrous 18th - setting up a three-way shoot-out in the decider.

Penske driver Briscoe had held a 25-point lead coming into the Japanese event, but jeopardised his title chances by crashing in the pitlane just as he looked set to take the lead. He was able to rejoin following a long stop for repairs but could only watch from the midfield as Dixon took maximum points from the weekend.

The pair then pulled away as the field spread out, opening a 3s lead over KV's Moraes, who soon had an equally safe cushion back to Briscoe, as the championship leader came under pressure from Panther's Dan Wheldon.

The lead swapped at the first stops, with Franchitti running one lap further, emerging just ahead of Dixon, and then fending off his team-mate's challenges.

Meanwhile Moraes' crew struggled to get him refuelled after he parked out of position. The stop was both slow and unproductive - only half a tank of fuel went in and he would have to make an additional stop soon afterwards, dropping him to 20th.

Wheldon passed Briscoe just before the stops and then closed on the two Ganassi cars. The trio remained in formation until the next pit visits, where Dixon managed to get back ahead of Franchitti as the Scot was blocked in traffic on his out-lap.

Briscoe ran several laps further than the leaders and pitted just as the yellow came out for a heavy crash by Dreyer & Reinbold's Mike Conway. This should have jumped Briscoe into the lead, but he lost control accelerating out of his pit, clouted the inside wall, and lost 15 laps while his car's left front corner was repaired.

This massive blow to Penske was compounded by Ganassi's continued dominance. Dixon kept Franchitti at bay through the rest of the race, with Wheldon dropping off their tail when he pitted shortly before Ryan Hunter-Reay (Foyt) spun into the wall and caused another yellow just as the Ganassi duo made their final stops.

Dixon stayed in front in the pits and then crept away from his team-mate in the closing laps, winning by 1.4s and putting himself in the prime position to secure a third IndyCar title at Homestead. He heads for the finale five points ahead of Franchitti and eight ahead of Briscoe.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Graham Rahal secured third by winning a spectacular battle with team-mate Oriol Servia and Moraes at the final restart - Moraes having got back on the lead lap and the leaders' pit schedule thanks to the timing of Conway's caution.

Last year's winner Danica Patrick was not a top three threat this time, fending off her Andretti Green team-mate Marco Andretti, Wheldon and top rookie Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon) for sixth. Tomas Scheckter looked set to be in this group prior to a gearbox problem on his Dreyer & Reinbold car.

Helio Castroneves salvaged 10th for Penske, making steady progress through the midfield following his qualifying crash. AGR's Tony Kanaan chased him up the order, having been put to the back of the grid after his car failed a technical inspection.

It was a disappointing day for the three Japanese-born drivers. Hideki Mutoh (AGR) only recovered to 14th after his Friday accident, Kosuke Matsuura was 17th for Conquest, and Dreyer & Reinbold's Roger Yasukawa had to pit for attention to a brake problem.

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 06 Newman Haas Lanigan Racing, finished fourth): "It was a very good race. I'm extremely happy for the team to finish just behind Ganassi is very good. I'm very pleased, but obviously, I would have preferred to be on the podium but Graham had a run on me there at the end and he got the best out of it. I'm happy with the performance. I'm happy that the team gave me the opportunity. We had a good four races and definitely gained momentum, and I hope we can continue the momentum next year. I think we can be contenders for the championship if we start together from Day 1. That's what I really hope will happen. I'm happy how things have gone. I want to thank Carl and Bernadette Haas, Mike Lanigan and McDonald's for the opportunity."

Publicado por: BITTER el Sep 30 2009, 03:39 PM

Graham Rahal says Oriol Servia made a massive contribution to Newman/Haas/Lanigan during his four races with the IndyCar Series team.

The Spaniard returned to NHLR - where he had previously substituted for Bruno Junqueira for part of the 2005 Champ Car season while the Brazilian was injured - when Robert Doornbos left the team for HVM after Edmonton. Servia's deal was on a race-by-race basis, and he will be replaced by Alex Lloyd for the season finale at Homestead next month.

Both Rahal and Servia fought for podium finishes in the last two oval events, finishing third and fourth at Motegi, and the American said the team's improved form owed a lot to Servia's presence.

"You can see it from the results that Oriol Servia's arrival - or return, I guess – to Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing has made us a better team," Rahal wrote in his blog for RACER.

"We were very much a one-car team until these last few races. The #06 car has had its best results in the last four weekends and Oriol is a guy who, with all his experience, is just so valuable."

Servia has not had a full-time drive in 2009 having lost his KV Racing seat as the team scaled back to a single car over the winter. He made a one-off appearance with Rahal Letterman Racing at the Indianapolis 500, but was otherwise on the sidelines until his Newman/Haas/Lanigan call-up.

"It's a shame he can't find a ride that's stable," said Rahal. "He brings so much to a team because of his knowledge and the guy has an engineering degree – he's just smart.

"So he was good for us – he helped us out and he's fun. There are a lot more smiles on a lot of people's faces, and it's just a whole different deal than before."

Publicado por: tenista el Oct 1 2009, 01:53 PM

Es un caso como el de Pedro, cuando lo vea lo creere

Publicado por: PEDRO_2008 el Dec 15 2009, 12:20 PM

New IndyCar might be wingless and flexible

According to this SPEEDTV.com article, one of the new IndyCar designs fairly well advanced is a lightweight car with no wings and a 4-cyclinder engine that is not a stressed member. What that means is that the chassis will flex like an old flexible flyer snow sled and be a real handful to drive and setup. Couple that with no wings to balance the car and we could see cars moving and dancing all over the track. That could actually result in a more entertaining racing product because drivers will be more prone to mistakes

Publicado por: murra el Apr 28 2010, 10:08 PM

Publicado por: BITTER el Apr 30 2010, 01:03 PM

Q: Who are the top drivers who have not been in any of the first four races? I would name Paul Tracy, Sebastien Bourdais, Tomas Scheckter, and Nelson Philippe. Will any of them get a ride any time soon? I know about PT’s deal so far. Will there be any bumping at Indy 500 qualifying or just 33 cars for 33 spots?

RM: Oriol Servia and Buddy Rice immediately come to mind, then Darren Manning plus all the guys you named except SeaBass (he doesn't want to come back here). Scheckter was confirmed at Dreyer & Reinbold last week and Servia could end up with Rahal/Letterman in a perfect world. PT will likely run both Canadian races besides Indy. As for real bumping, it looks like anywhere from 37-40 drivers going for 33 spots.

Publicado por: ` el May 14 2010, 09:56 AM

Newman/Haas Racing officials still are considering a second car to go alongside Hideki Mutoh. Oriol Servia, who had four solid races with the team last season, would be a leading candidate to drive it. .

Publicado por: tenista el May 14 2010, 11:03 AM

CITA(` @ May 14 2010, 10:56 AM)

Newman/Haas Racing officials still are considering a second car to go alongside Hideki Mutoh. Oriol Servia, who had four solid races with the team last season, would be a leading candidate to drive it. .

Publicado por: el_cubillo el May 23 2010, 05:23 PM

Publicado por: ` el May 23 2010, 11:33 PM

Kanaan qualifies as Tracy misses out

By Matt Beer Sunday, May 23rd 2010, 22:06 GMT

Tony Kanaan, Andretti, Indy qualifyingTony Kanaan and Takuma Sato made it into the Indianapolis 500 field but Paul Tracy failed to qualify after withdrawing his speed and then failing to improve on a highly dramatic Bump Day.

Kanaan's pair of accidents this weekend and Sato's big crash yesterday had left both on the outside going into today's six-hour session to decide the final nine spots in the field.

As both made it in, Tracy eventually ended up on the bubble in 33rd, having also started today outside the cut as he had failed to muster sufficient speed on Pole Day.

Confident he could improve his pace, he withdrew his time with 10 minutes to go but effectively knocked himself out of the race as his new attempt was slower than his existing speed. When Sarah Fisher Racing's Jay Howard did likewise minutes later, rookie team and driver combination Sebastian Saavedra and Bryan Herta Autosport were elevated back into the field despite having crashed during a practice run an hour earlier.

Milka Duno in the second Coyne car, Sato in the KV car repaired after his massive Saturday morning practice crash and Foyt Racing's late substitute Jaques Lazier - who replaced AJ Foyt IV just hours ago - were all too slow to make the top 33 on their first runs, while Kanaan was still sat in the Andretti garage as his crew worked frantically to get his #11T car back in shape.

As the crucial final hour approached, Saavedra's hopes of making the field seemed to be dashed when he crashed heavily at Turn 1 - leaving him unable to respond if any of the non-qualified drivers beat his speed.

Kanaan was first to try, and although his practice laps in the repaired car had been disappointing, his four-lap average of 224.072mph was good enough to get him into the field in 30th and knock Saavedra out.

That left Romancini on the bubble in 33rd. Keen to avoid a repeat of last year's heartbreak - when driver Alex Tagliani was bumped and unable to respond, so had to commandeer team-mate Junqueira's car to make the race - Conquest withdrew Romancini's time and sent him out again. He duly produced a 224.641mph average to elevate himself to a safe 27th place and leave Howard on the edge.

Lazier and Duno's next attempts were still too slow, but Sato managed a massive improvement over his tentative earlier effort and grabbed 31st, pushing Howard out and Tracy down to 33rd.

Although Howard's immediate retaliation was not quite quick enough, Tracy and KV still decided to withdraw their speed of 223.892mph with just 10 minutes to go and try for a safer position - but the gamble backfired. A big slide on his first lap cost Tracy speed and he waved off the attempt, allowing Howard back in.

Howard responded by withdrawing his time too only to also go slower than he had previously, which allowed Saavedra - who had moved back onto the bubble because he had been bumped rather than withdrawing his time - to take 33rd place after all, giving former driver Herta's new team its IndyCar debut in the most incredible circumstances. With no more time left to respond, Tracy, Howard, Duno and Lazier ended up as the four non-qualifiers - Tracy and Howard kicking themselves for having voluntarily scrubbed times that would have got them on the grid.

The huge drama of the final half hour overshadowed the incredible achievement of Junqueira, the fastest qualifier of the day, who had just nine practice laps in Fazzt's second car before the Bump Day session, a sponsorship issued having sidelined him for all of practice and Pole Day. Despite his non-existent preparation, Junqueira immediately turned in a speed that would have got him into the top 10 alongside team-mate Alex Tagliani had he run yesterday.

Penske's Helio Castroneves and Will Power will start first and second, with Ganassi's Dario Franchitti completing the front row.

Publicado por: BITTER el May 30 2010, 10:44 PM

Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, Indy 2010Ganassi's Dario Franchitti claimed his second Indianapolis 500 victory with a commanding drive for Ganassi in the 2010 edition of the IndyCar Series' premier race.

Dan Wheldon finished in second place, as a late fuel stop meant Tony Kanaan had to relinquish the runner-up spot with just four laps to go after an epic drive from the back of the grid.

Alex Lloyd took a remarkable third place for Dale Coyne Racing - completing an all-British top three, although his position could come into question with Marco Andretti alleging he was passed under yellow.

Having dominated qualifying, Penske's race went awry due to pit incidents and strategy miscues, and the polesitting squad came away with just eighth and ninth.

The race ended under yellow as Mike Conway made contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay and had a massive accident. The Dreyer & Reinbold car rode over the back of Hunter-Reay's Andretti Autosport entry and flew into the fencing, where its back end was ripped off before it crashed back down onto the track. Conway is being flown to hospital with an injury to his right leg.

The yellow for that accident secured Franchitti's victory, for he went into the final lap marginal on fuel as all the frontrunners tried to stretch their final tank-load over nearly 40 laps.

Franchitti had been the fastest man throughout the race, leading the vast majority of laps and heading the field by a margin of up to 10s at times.

He moved from third to first within the opening turns of the race, and apart from a brief battle with Penske's Will Power early on, he only lost the lead to strategy vagaries.

With several drivers gambling on alternate strategies at the end, Franchitti was back in fifth going into the last 20 laps - but aware that none of those ahead had much chance of reaching the finish on their current fuel loads without a miraculously long yellow.

When Helio Castroneves (Penske) pitted eight laps from the end, Franchitti hit the front with Kanaan chasing him down. The Brazilian had flown through the field from his 33rd place start, but had not conserved sufficient fuel and had to pit with just four laps to go.

His stop moved Panther driver Wheldon into second after a quietly impressive surge up through the field. Marco Andretti looked set to at least salvage third for Andretti Autosport, but dropped to sixth in the confusion as the late yellow was called. The American was adamant that he was third when the caution happened and that the results should be amended.

But for now at least, Lloyd holds an incredible third position. The young Briton had been creeping towards the top ten with a very competitive race car, and as others backed off or pitted with fuel worries in the closing laps he gained place after place and found himself a shock third.

Scott Dixon (Ganassi) was never a victory threat and lost a lot of ground when he lost a front wheel in the pitlane, before finally recovering to fourth.

Danica Patrick looked set for a top 12 finish at best, until she too gained huge ground amid the late fuel and yellow confusion and crossed the line in fifth to become Andretti's top finisher.

The unfortunate Conway and his Dreyer & Reinbold team-mate Justin Wilson had both led in the closing stages as the squad tried an alternate fuel strategy, and while Conway's race came to a sad end in the crash with Hunter-Reay, Wilson was elevated to seventh as the mayhem unfolded.

Power and Castroneves were Franchitti's main rivals in the early stints, only for Power to pull away from a pitstop with his fuel hose still attached, and Castroneves to stall in the pits later on, which left them eighth and ninth in the end. The Brazilian briefly reappeared in the lead after pitting out of sequence but needed a lot more laps under yellow to make it to the finish. Ryan Briscoe crashed the third Penske entry just before three quarter distance.

Fazzt's Alex Tagliani ran in the top four at first, faded later and tumbled to 16th, before recovering to a fine 10th place ahead of the unfortunate Kanaan.

Qualifying stars Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman) and Ed Carpenter (Vision) had frustrating races. Rahal pitted out of sequence to attend to handling problems, charged back into the top ten, received a penalty for blocking Wheldon, then got back up to third on a strategy gamble before having to pit on lap 189 as the yellow he needed failed to appear. He finished 12th, while Carpenter was a top five contender until a lack of fuel forced him to stop illegally in a closed pit.

A blocking penalty also dropped Townsend Bell (Ganassi/Schmidt) out of the top ten, while Tomas Scheckter led for a while thanks to a well-timed pitstop and looked capable of a top four finish for Dreyer & Reinbold before losing ground in the final stops. Both needed late splash and go stops too, dropping them to 15th (Scheckter) and 16th.

HVM's Simona de Silvestro was ultimately the highest-placed rookie in 13th, just beating Conquest's Mario Romancini as both all but ran dry on the last lap.

Several of the stars of the month were out before half-distance. There would be no fairytale for Bruno Junqueira, who crashed his Fazzt car after just seven laps. But he was not the first retirement - that unhappy honour falling to De Ferran Dragon's Davey Hamilton, who spun at Turn 2 on the very first lap and hit the inside wall.

His team-mate Raphael Matos showed excellent pace, charging up to third behind Franchitti and Castroneves before things went horribly wrong at his second pitstop, when a rear wheel became detached as he accelerated away, causing him to spin. The crew retrieved the car and Matos rejoined, only to crash heavily soon afterwards.

Top ten qualifier Hideki Mutoh struggled with handling problems from the outset and eventually parked his Newman/Haas car. Andretti Autosport's John Andretti crashed shortly after becoming the first man of the afternoon to be penalised for blocking Wheldon, debutant driver and team Sebastian Saavedra and Bryan Herta Autosport were just one lap down until a lap 159 crash, while Mario Moraes (KV), owner/driver Sarah Fisher and Vitor Meira (Foyt) saw their races ended by relatively minor impacts with the barriers. With EJ Viso stopping with handling issues, Takuma Sato was KV's only finisher in 20th after a difficult race on his Indy debut.

Publicado por: ` el Mar 11 2011, 09:48 AM

INDYCAR: Servia One Of Many Hoping To Fill Final SeatsNext week’s official IZOD IndyCar Series test at Barber Motorsports Park is expected to provide answers on how the final 2011 IndyCar grid will shape up.

Next week’s official IZOD IndyCar Series test at Barber Motorsports Park is expected to provide a number of confirmations regarding who will fill the remaining seats on the 2011 IndyCar grid.

Deals are believed to be in place between Conquest Racing, Colombian driver Sebastien Saavedra and England’s Pippa Mann, while Dale Coyne has Sebastien Bourdais, Milka Duno and Alex Lloyd in the mix.

KV Racing appears to have Tony Kanaan ready to join the team and Jay Penske is also known to be working hard to keep Dragon Racing on track for the March 27th season opener in St. Petersburg.

Newman Haas Racing also looks like it’s close to securing Canada’s James Hinchcliffe and open-wheel veteran Oriol Servia to lead its two-car campaign in 2011.

PHOTOS: Sebring IndyCar Test

With another test scheduled with NHR at Barber, Servia says negotiations are headed in the right direction and hopes for some positive news to emerge next week from Alabama.

“Let’s say I feel a lot stronger on the possibility [of joining NHR] than the last time we spoke. Things are looking good. That’s all I can say right now.”

Servia has struggled—like many of the veteran drivers who lost their rides when Champ Car folded—to find solid footing in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

The Catalonian campaigned the full 2008 IndyCar season with KV Racing, but his services have been sorely underutilized over the last two years.

Joining NHR for the first time in 2005, Servia earned one win and seven podiums on the way to finishing second in the championship behind his teammate, Sebastien Bourdais.

With Robert Doornbos out of the picture at NHR towards the end of the 2009 season, Servia got the call to deputize for the Dutchman, quickly producing the best results of the year in the No. 06 car.

With the need for a funded driver in 2010, Hideki Mutoh and the No. 06 spent much of the year in the wilderness as the team dropped down to a single entry.

Graham Rahal’s return in the latter half of the championship produced five top 10s from six starts, but by all accounts, it was an atypical season for the eight-time open-wheel champions.

Knowing how hungry the team has become to return to its former glory, bringing Servia back for a third stint could provide the ingredient they’ve been missing.

“These are the same guys today that I won with before and have so many championships. I know what they are capable of doing. I think any serious driver wants to be with a team like Newman Haas.”

While Servia waits to hear if he’ll be on the grid with NHR at St. Petersburg in two weeks, he knows exactly where he’ll be on March 19th.

If everything comes together as planned, Servia will add 17 IndyCar rounds to a calendar that already includes three American Le Mans Series endurance events as a pilot for Paul Gentilozzi’s factory Jaguar RSR program.

“This will be a lot of fun. It’s driving with my friends from Champ Car and for Paul, who I’ve known for a long time. I didn’t get to race last year, which was very, very strange. I think this will get things going in a good direction.”

As revealed on the ALMS’ entry list for the 12 Hours of Sebring a few weeks ago, Servia will partner with the Brazilian duo of “Junqy and Shorty,” better known as eight-time Champ Car race winner Bruno Junqueira and 2002 Champ Car champion Cristiano da Matta.

Sharing a Jaguar XKR in the popular GT class with his open-wheel friends will be a nice change of pace, according to Servia, and while he’s only expected to drive in the long races at Sebring, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans, he says he wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to do more sports car racing in the future.

“I’ve raced in Champ Car, in the IndyCar Series and I’ve also done GRAND-AM, but this will be my first time in the ALMS. I’ve tested at Sebring a lot, but this is also my first race at the 12 hours. I like sports cars, although I have not done a lot of that type of racing. I know they are very motivated and they have done a lot to the [Jaguar] since last year, so there is a lot of optimism for everyone. I hope we can have fun and give good results in our races together, and I wouldn’t mind doing more sports car racing to go with the IndyCar races. Staying busy is my goal.”

With as many as 20 races on his plate this year, Servia just might get his wish.

Oriol Servia, No. 02 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I'm so happy! Obviously its great to be in the top-five but I'm just so happy. When you are running in the top-five there is a reason. I felt good in the car, with the team. I was a blast when I looked at the scoring board an hour before the end and we were one and two. That's the way Newman/Haas has always been and that's the way it has to be and it just felt great that we got there with two days of testing. There is still a lot to come from myself and the car. We progressed big stages to get where we are and there is still more. I feel very happy; everybody is super motivated. James was super helpful all day yesterday and today with him knowing the track and I really hope we can be teammates. The two cars worked together really well and we made a lot of progress together. I'm very happy with the team and myself. When you are a year out of the car, of course you still think you can drive but it is just so great knowing it is true."

Publicado por: tenista el Mar 16 2011, 09:19 AM

CITA(` @ Mar 16 2011, 12:42 AM)

SERVIA AND HINCHCLIFFE FIFTH AND SEVENTH QUICK ON THE SECOND AND FINAL DAY OF THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES OPEN TEST AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

Oriol Servia, No. 02 Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I'm so happy! Obviously its great to be in the top-five but I'm just so happy. When you are running in the top-five there is a reason. I felt good in the car, with the team. I was a blast when I looked at the scoring board an hour before the end and we were one and two. That's the way Newman/Haas has always been and that's the way it has to be and it just felt great that we got there with two days of testing. There is still a lot to come from myself and the car. We progressed big stages to get where we are and there is still more. I feel very happy; everybody is super motivated. James was super helpful all day yesterday and today with him knowing the track and I really hope we can be teammates. The two cars worked together really well and we made a lot of progress together. I'm very happy with the team and myself. When you are a year out of the car, of course you still think you can drive but it is just so great knowing it is true."

Gran noticia, Yossi, ahora solo falta que la temporada sea igual.....

Publicado por: KIT el Mar 16 2011, 10:37 AM

CITA(` @ Mar 16 2011, 12:42 AM)

SERVIA AND HINCHCLIFFE FIFTH AND SEVENTH QUICK ON THE SECOND AND FINAL DAY OF THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES OPEN TEST AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

Publicado por: BITTER el Mar 16 2011, 03:13 PM

A NEW CHALLENGER

Chris Estrada,mar 15, 2011

None of Newman/Haas Racing's past glories -- and with eight CART/Champ Car titles, there's plenty of them -- could stop last season from being one of their leaner years. Despite their best efforts with Hideki Mutoh at the controls of their one-car program, the team could only come up with an 18th-place finish in the championship with a top race finish of 12th in three different events.

It certainly was a far cry from their golden years with drivers like Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Cristiano da Matta and, most recently, Sebastien Bourdais.

But while an IZOD IndyCar Series championship may still be a tall order with Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing as the perennial favorites, a much improved Newman/Haas Racing for 2011 could be emerging. This week's test sessions at Barber Motorsports Park revealed a potentially potent veteran/rookie duo for them in the teady Oriol Servia and the lively James Hinchcliffe.

Of course, you can't spell "potentially" without potential. While Servia has said that he's good to go full-time this year (check the Mar. 13 Open Test Notebook on INDYCAR.com), we haven't heard anything official on Hinchcliffe's end yet -- not to mention an official announcement from the team, either.

Let's hope that the "Mayor of Hinchtown" -- as Hinchcliffe sometimes fashions himself -- can nail the deal down, because if the test results are any indication, a Servia/Hinchcliffe combo would be entertaining.

Servia went fifth-fastest in Tuesday's runs at Barber, while Hinchcliffe paired together the fifth-fastest time on Monday and the seventh-fastest time overall when Tuesday was all over. But just as important, it sounds like both drivers have already gotten on each other's wavelength and see just how much potential-- there's that word again -- they could have.

"There is still a lot to come from myself and the car," said Servia, who returns to INDYCAR action after a long layoff. "We progressed big stages to get where we are and there is still more. I feel very happy; everybody is super motivated.

"James was super helpful all day yesterday and today with him knowing the track, and I really hope we can be teammates. The two cars worked together really well and we made a lot of progress together. I'm very happy with the team and myself. When you are a year out of the car, of course you still think you can drive, but it is just so great knowing it is true."

As for Hinchcliffe, he quickly progressed in moving focus from getting comfortable around the highly technical Barber road course to getting his car better on longer runs.

"We did one new tire run which was good and put us right at the top for that time of day," he said Tuesday. "And then I had a little moment on track again which ruined another set of tires, so it compromised the strategy a little bit for the rest of the day. That was it for new tire runs. We went back out to get some long runs in for the first race.

"We know we can run quick on a set of sticker tires so we need to see what we can do over a stint."

However, he's still getting a lot of enjoyment out of his first runs in an IndyCar

"[Monday] was my first time to drive an Indy car on a proper road circuit so it really gave me a chance to stretch the legs of the Indy car a little bit, especially on the fast corners," he said on the first day of testing. "It's an incredible machine; it's got a lot of downforce and it's really fun to try to explore the limits of the car."

Youthfulness is a great quality in a person, but it can always use a bit of maturity to temper itself in situations. So it could go with Hinchcliffe, who would do much worse in finding a veteran partner other than Servia, a Champ Car veteran that has plenty of knowledge to give and some of the proverbial gas in his tank still left.

What's more, Hinchcliffe is fully ready to make the transition to IndyCar. There are no doubts about his talent and he's also got the personality to gather a strong following in the future.

Indeed, this pairing would definitely be one to watch if it becomes official going into St. Petersburg.

Publicado por: monza2001 el Mar 23 2011, 08:10 PM

Newman/Haas Racing has announced that Oriol Servia will drive the team's solo entry in this weekend's opening round of the IRL IndyCar Series at St. Petersburg.

Servia, a veteran of the American open-wheel racing scene with over a decade's experience in Champ Cars and the IRL, did not race in 2010 but set the fifth fastest time in last week's test at Barber Motorsports Park.

Newman/Haas also ran 2010 Indy Lights runner-up James Hinchcliffe at the test, but will only be running one car at St. Petersburg.

"I honestly believe the test couldn't have gone better," Servia said. "I found the whole Newman/Haas team exactly how I left it: willing to do whatever it takes to let the driver do what he does best and get to the front.

"I expect us to be competitive from the get go in St. Pete. No excuses of being rusty after a year off or anything. I feel ready and the team has a great track record in St. Pete and all street races in general. I expect us to shine."

Servia raced for Newman/Haas in Champ Cars taking a single win at Montreal in 2005. He returned to the team in the IRL in the latter part of 2009 having begun the season with Rahal Letterman Racing, finishing fourth at Motegi.